statute of limitations on a VOP

#1 01-21-2009, 12:18 PM

I live in NY allong with my father, He recently got into a car accident where he hit a deer. Upon the officer arriving, my father was informed that he had an outstanding warrant for his arrest for a VOP in the state of Fl from 7 years ago. Is there a statute of limitations on these types of warrants or should my father fear extradition?

aardvarc · #2 01-21-2009, 12:33 PM

The statute of limitations stops running once a person leaves the state, or, once a warrant is issued, regardless of where the person is. The warrant will remain active until it is taken care of in the court that issued it. Apparantly the state of FL has a limitation set on extradition, otherwise the officer would have cuffed and stuffed him right then and there for a forced return to FL to appear before the court (which is all a warrant really is, an order for the person to be brought before the court). Since that didn't happen, it means that FL has set a "boundary" - a distance that they are willing to spend the money to extradite him from - often this is something like "within FL only", or "surrounding states only", or a list of specific states within a certain distance. Apparantly they don't want him bad enough to pay to have him brought all the way back to FL from NY. That means the warrant will stay floating around out there until he either works through his attorney to get back to the court (and hopefully bypass the getting arrested and going to jail first part), or, he ventures inside whatever the extradition boundary is and finds himself in custody and on his way to Florida under less than desireable circumstances.

If he's "safe" in NY, then in theory, as long as he stays in NY, things will remain status quo and the warrant will just continue to float around.

#3 01-21-2009, 02:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by aardvarc

The statute of limitations stops running once a person leaves the state, or, once a warrant is issued, regardless of where the person is. The warrant will remain active until it is taken care of in the court that issued it. Apparantly the state of FL has a limitation set on extradition, otherwise the officer would have cuffed and stuffed him right then and there for a forced return to FL to appear before the court (which is all a warrant really is, an order for the person to be brought before the court). Since that didn't happen, it means that FL has set a "boundary" - a distance that they are willing to spend the money to extradite him from - often this is something like "within FL only", or "surrounding states only", or a list of specific states within a certain distance. Apparantly they don't want him bad enough to pay to have him brought all the way back to FL from NY. That means the warrant will stay floating around out there until he either works through his attorney to get back to the court (and hopefully bypass the getting arrested and going to jail first part), or, he ventures inside whatever the extradition boundary is and finds himself in custody and on his way to Florida under less than desireable circumstances.

If he's "safe" in NY, then in theory, as long as he stays in NY, things will remain status quo and the warrant will just continue to float around.

Thanks. He is also a veteran and is in fear of losing his benefits if he is required to serve jail time. Should he turn himself in and face the music with the possibility of his benefits being curtailed or just keep his mouth shut and ignore the warrant?

moderator · #4 01-21-2009, 05:05 PM

Have you browsed through the information in LawInfo's Free Legal Resource Center to learn more about your issue yet? See: http://www.lawinfo.com/consumer.html. You should certainly try to speak to a lawyer to determine what legal options may be available. In the meantime, you may be able to learn more on your own. Search the "Free Legal Resources" tab, or browse the Consumer Resources. Good luck.